Defense Department may be changing its ways on software procurement.

Software Industry Report, October, 1994

The Defense Department has launched a study on ways to increase its acquisition of commercial computer software, a move recommended by the Defense Science Board Task Force a few months ago. The task force stressed that the Pentagon rarely considers buying commercial off-the-shelf software when it begins defining a computer system.

Instead, it says military plans are built around building entirely new software, even if equivalent commercial software is readily available. The task force says trade-off studies on commercial software versus customized software should be conducted before a bid ever goes out. It says military services often consider only a low initial bid price rather than the life cycle cost of the system. It also says software bids must eliminate...

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